Ali Marrakech

Today I was all by myself again. I had a pretty lazy day in Marrakech - slept in, went for lunch on a terrace overlooking Djemma el'Fna, and then had an afternoon nap. I think the previous 10 days of restless sleep and getting up early had caught up to me. In the afternoon I went to a hotel cafe and relaxed and people-watched for quite awhile. This was followed by more relaxing on my hotel's rooftop, and then supper. I went to the Hotel Ali for my meal since the food was the same but half the...

ARRIVAL AT CASABLANCA Immigration formalities were brief and soon I found myself on a waiting train right in the terminal area. In about 30 minutes, the train reached the city. I had a reservation for a hotel which was located next door. In a moment, I was at the reception of Ibis Moussafir with a printout of my Internet booking. Never before finding a place to straighten my back was so safe and so convenient. After a good night's sleep, I was ready to explore the city. To start, I went to a ...

Marrakech is one of those places whose name conjures up images of an exotic 1,001 Arabian Knights atmosphere, loaded camel caravans carrying nomad's wares across the desert, and exotic trading souks, a place right up there with Timbuktu, Isfahan, and Luxor on the list of almost mythical must-see cities of the Middle East of lore. Marrakech was the last of the four imperial cities we visited and probably the star. Not all of Marrakech is necessarily pretty but its unified architectural appeara...

Just when I thought I had recovered, my stomach played up again, so I went without breakfast and lunch today. The bus trip to Marrakesh went through a remote and arid landscape, but people still seemed to get on and off everywhere. There was no CTM available. We are at Ali's hotel, which is very expensive at 170 Dm, but that includes breakfast, hot showers (bathroom and toilet are ensuited) and free internet - so we've caught up with all our e-mail, updating the address-book, etc. We also got...

Back to our special hotel: Hotel Ali

As soon *s we booked our flight from C*s*bl*nc* to C*iro we felt *s though * weight h*d been lifted. Although the schedule dict*ted th*t we would be forced to rem*in in Morocco for *nother week, the f*ct th*t we knew we would soon be experiencing something new bre*thed fresh life into our tr*vel s*ils. Our *mbition w*s to use the extr* week to m*ke our w*y to the mighty S*h*r* where we hoped to t*ke * c*mel ride *nd (Morocco willing) spend the night on the cool desert s*nd. H*ving slowly but ...

Already 10 days gone. Morocco done, now in Spain. Have been a little slack with this, so will do my best to put some detail in about morocco... Travelling alone can be rather daunting, but this didn´t last long for me. On the flight from Manchester to Marrakech I met two English girls, from Yorkshire - Alison & Nicola. They very nicely took me under their wing, and a shared taxi ride into town turned into a 10 day holiday together! Think they must have felt sorry for me! We arrived sunday...